Court documents tell different story after Vancouver man claims to have shot car prowler

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KPTV) – A violent dispute in Vancouver has left one man in jail and another in the hospital in critical condition. Vancouver Police said just before 2:00 a.m. on June 21, they received a call from 33-year-old Jacob Cantrell who said that another man was breaking into his car with a shovel. Cantrell also admitted that he shot the man several times.

Court documents tell a different story, however. FOX 12 has learned the man who was shot, Randal Morrison, had his truck also damaged the same night, with police saying in a report it appeared it had just happened.

Cantrell said that Morrison was driving around the neighborhood with a loud exhaust at which point, he confronted Morrison. The documents don’t specify how Cantrell confronted Morrison, but it does say that Morrison’s passenger side window of his truck was damaged.

Police also noted they found a golf-ball sized rock in the middle of the road that appeared to be consistent with the damage. The reporting officer also said Cantrell smelled strongly of intoxicants.

“I heard at least seven shots ring out and you knew it was a gun right away and my husband heard squealing tires prior to that,” Julie Engstron, a neighbor said. One of the bullets hit her RV.

“I have to live with that, so I’ll remember this night and our neighborhood has never been like this,” Engstron said. Cantrell was arrested and is charged with assault. The man he shot is in critical condition and police have not yet released his name.

FOX 12 spoke with some of the man’s friends who were at the scene where he was shot and they said what happened doesn’t make sense.

“I couldn’t quit shaking it just unnerved me that he would do such a thing,” Engstron said.

Engstron and other neighbors said this isn’t the first time they’ve been concerned with Cantrell’s behavior.

“He whips around the trees and has got machetes and he’s on his roof with his lawn chairs and just making a lot of noise, howling at night, loud music and they have called the police several times,” Balinda Olive Baltran, another neighbor said. She said she’s worried about her daughter and grandkids safety.

“It’s tragic because we’ve never had to deal with anything like this in our neighborhood and we’ve been here since 1994,” Beltran said.

Engstron said she and her husband are afraid.

“My husband and I purchased two guns because he’s been scaring us, he hasn’t threatened us directly but we don’t say anything to him and we don’t make any movement towards him just in case, we’re scared,” Engstron said.

Morrison was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition. Cantrell was arrested and is charged with assault. He appeared in court Wednesday but did not enter a pela deal. He’s currently being held at Clark County Jail with a $500,000 bail and is due back in court July 1.

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